What is it like to live on a PV Solar System?
Living with solar can be a great experience, as long as you have a "big enough" system to produce enough of your electricity needs. And, having a "big enough" system means that you rarely run too low on storage during the day or at night. As long as we've lived on solar [or lived with solar],we have rarely run too low on electricity, but it does take practice and a different mindset to be comfortable with a completely off-the-grid system. We've lived off the grid for more than 20 years now, and there have only been a few times in all those years when either there was a long-term storm, which prevented enough sun shining through to the panels to charge the batteries, or we used "too much" electricity during the day to have 'enough' [to not go too low on the voltage on the batteries] to power all of our needs during the evening so that we had to shut everything down. That has rarely happened, primarily because the solar system we have is 'big enough' for our electrical needs, and because we are judicious in our electrical usage.
As one example: if we want to do laundry, we choose a day when it appears it will be sunny for a good portion of the day [at least four hours, generally speaking], and do laundry earlier in the day so that there are hours left to charge the batteries again. Sometimes we are wrong in our guesstimate about the sun, but not usually [it's pretty sunny most of the days here]. The key is to have a good sized system, and to accurately assess the sun situation for the day to charge the batteries enough so that there is enough power [charge left in the batteries] at night.
It also helps to have as many electrical appliances that use less electricity than some others might. For example, we purchase more expensive refrigerators that have been designed for solar systems for two main reasons: 1) they tend to use less electricity than other less expensive refrigerators, and 2) they can be hooked up directly to the batteries. That way, if the inverter [one crucial element of a PV Solar system] dies, the refrigerator does not! There are also TVs that use much less electricity than some others; the newer big screen flat TVs actually use less electricity than those manufactured about 10 years ago, which is great! You get a nice big flat screen, and more electricity to use for other things, especially in the evenings!
Another helpful thing is to use laptop computers rather than desktop computers as the laptop computers use less electricity. Some fans also use more electricity than other fans, so it helps to compare.
We check our voltage output [and input] periodically, partially because we are interested in what is going in and out of the PV system [the amount of sun that is being converted into charge and being stored in the batteries], but also because we want to be aware of our usage. It's just a good idea to check the voltages [input and output] regularly to get a sense of how much charge is going in and out and when, and to ensure that the equipment is working correctly. We may check it two or three times a day, for example.
For the most part, living with solar is not much more different than living with a car; it's good to check the tires, battery, and other parts to be sure they are in working order; the same goes for a PV solar system. The batteries generally need to be filled with water once a month or so, and the voltage checked [we have a meter that is easily visible] to be sure that things seem to be flowing in the right directions [input and output], so to speak. We also turn off the lights and any electrical tools as soon as we are done using them, and use the sun for drying our clothes [the heating elements in any drying/heating type of equipment use a LOT of electricity, such as hair dryers, clothes dryers, deep fat fryers and the like]. Our electrical needs or desires are almost always met. I can think of less than a handful of times in the past 20 years that we needed to turn off the TV due to low electricity voltage.
As one example: if we want to do laundry, we choose a day when it appears it will be sunny for a good portion of the day [at least four hours, generally speaking], and do laundry earlier in the day so that there are hours left to charge the batteries again. Sometimes we are wrong in our guesstimate about the sun, but not usually [it's pretty sunny most of the days here]. The key is to have a good sized system, and to accurately assess the sun situation for the day to charge the batteries enough so that there is enough power [charge left in the batteries] at night.
It also helps to have as many electrical appliances that use less electricity than some others might. For example, we purchase more expensive refrigerators that have been designed for solar systems for two main reasons: 1) they tend to use less electricity than other less expensive refrigerators, and 2) they can be hooked up directly to the batteries. That way, if the inverter [one crucial element of a PV Solar system] dies, the refrigerator does not! There are also TVs that use much less electricity than some others; the newer big screen flat TVs actually use less electricity than those manufactured about 10 years ago, which is great! You get a nice big flat screen, and more electricity to use for other things, especially in the evenings!
Another helpful thing is to use laptop computers rather than desktop computers as the laptop computers use less electricity. Some fans also use more electricity than other fans, so it helps to compare.
We check our voltage output [and input] periodically, partially because we are interested in what is going in and out of the PV system [the amount of sun that is being converted into charge and being stored in the batteries], but also because we want to be aware of our usage. It's just a good idea to check the voltages [input and output] regularly to get a sense of how much charge is going in and out and when, and to ensure that the equipment is working correctly. We may check it two or three times a day, for example.
For the most part, living with solar is not much more different than living with a car; it's good to check the tires, battery, and other parts to be sure they are in working order; the same goes for a PV solar system. The batteries generally need to be filled with water once a month or so, and the voltage checked [we have a meter that is easily visible] to be sure that things seem to be flowing in the right directions [input and output], so to speak. We also turn off the lights and any electrical tools as soon as we are done using them, and use the sun for drying our clothes [the heating elements in any drying/heating type of equipment use a LOT of electricity, such as hair dryers, clothes dryers, deep fat fryers and the like]. Our electrical needs or desires are almost always met. I can think of less than a handful of times in the past 20 years that we needed to turn off the TV due to low electricity voltage.
